For middle-of-the-high-road types, HP just debuted its new Pavilion Elite m9600 series of Core i7 excitement. Things don’t get quite as wild as Dell’s new 24GB monsters, but HP packs in a respectable amount of power for the price. The base configuration includes a Core i7 920 2.66Ghz processor, 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GS graphics and a DVD burner, all for $950, and you can escalate up to a Core i7 940 2.93GHz processor, 12GB of RAM, a couple of 1TB hard drives, 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics and a Blu-ray burner. HP is also outing four new 16:9 monitors, the 18.5-inch w1858, 20-inch 2009m, 21.5-inch 2159m and 23-inch w2338h. The latter two include HDMI inputs, and the prices range from $170 to $300 — not bad at all.

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The Dell Mini 10, the Mini 9′s successor, which is due to start shipping later this week will come with a “fixed” 1GB of RAM, meaning, it won’t be upgradable according to Dell. Does this mean that the RAM is soldered in, or fixed on the motherboard? Anyways, it’s probably a result of the netbook licensing limitations they have with Microsoft.

via: gizmodo

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Bamboo has become the “it” material for many gadget designers. PC maker Dell has launched its Studio Hybrid PC with the option of a bamboo case, while Asus offers a Bamboo series notebook. There are also bamboo speakers, a keyboard, mouse and USB hub available, all wearing the woody-stemmed grass.

“The use of authentic materials is a strong trend in product design right now,” says Gadi Amit, principal designer and founder of product-design firm New Deal Design, which worked with Dell on its Studio Hybrid PC.

The trend goes far beyond the PC industry, with many designers in other fields adopting the ostensibly eco-friendly material. Watchmaker Nixon has a model with a bamboo strap. Bikemaker Craig Calfee showed bicycles with bamboo frames at a recent show. Bamboo has even taken the clothing world by storm as one of the hottest textiles. It’s used in everything from T-shirts and boxer shorts to high-end hotel bedsheets.

Bamboo is catching the attention of product designers in much the same way as titanium or fruit-colored translucent plastics did a few years ago. Bamboo is an easy way to send a message about the green credentials of a product, say industrial designers. It also appeals to people who want a very visible way to show they swing green — a visible complement to their Anya Hindmarch “I am not a plastic bag” bag and their Priuses.

But at least in the PC industry, the use of bamboo could be considered partly greenwashing, designers acknowledge. Despite its positive connotations, bamboo cases are usually optional — and even then are just an exterior veneer glued to a carbon-fiber or plastic body. “To some degree it is a gimmick or a shallow attempt,” says Amit. “But it still signifies the emergence of a new aesthetic that is more rough, less polished and one that reconnects audience with the green movement.”

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via: Wired

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Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10 has finally arrived on its maker’s website. The new mini will sport a 10.1-inch display, 802.11b/g WiFi, optional Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI out, an external DVD drive, upwards of 160GB of HDD space, 1GB of RAM, a keyboard that’s 92 percent the size of a standard laptop (that’s the same as on ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE, by the way), 720p media playback, optional WWAN, an internal TV tuner, a multitouch trackpad which recognizes multiple contact points to help ease navigation of your system, and your choice of a 3-cell (3 hours) or 6-cell (6.5 hours) battery.

via: Dell

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